LD Blog

MedicineNet is one of the many Web sites purporting to provide medical information for the public and the defintion of dyslexia that it provides includes relatively accurate information. One valuable feature of the definition MedicineNet provides is that it explicitly rebuts the idea that dyslexia is a visual problem.

Two commonly held beliefs about dyslexia are that children with it are prone to seeing letters or words backward, and that the problem is linked to intelligence. Both beliefs are incorrect. The problem is a linguistic one, not a visual one, in dyslexia. And dyslexia in no way stems from any lack of intelligence. People with severe dyslexia can be brilliant.

It’s nice to have a chance to point to a place where the myth of reversals isn’t perpetuated. Sadly, the definition over-emphasizes self-concept.

Link to the entry on dyslexia and to the site’s list of related topics. The site also features an extended article about Learning Disabilities, drawn from Psychology Today.